Copenhagen – Land

Back to Copenhagen and this time around exploring the land. If you missed my previous post it’s here and features Nyhavn and boat trips. So who’s the lovely lady you can see above? Why that’s The Little Mermaid of course. Similar to the Statue of Liberty for NYC and Manneken Pis for Brussels, she’s the face and symbol of the city appearing on shirts, magnets, keychains and other wotsits galore. My first impression of her was ‘wow she is teeny tiny’ and also quite a walk from the centre. She is a Danish affair being created by Edvard Eriksen and also from the story by Hans Christian Andersen. She has become the woman of the city with Copenhagen putting a lot of time, money and effort into restoring her and keeping her well maintained.

Now to get more touristy and central – Amalienborg is the main palace and home to the Danish royal family. Weirdly enough it’s located right in the middle of the city and is easily accessible by people walking past. It’s a little strange as the palace homes aren’t very fenced off from tourists. If some of the curtains are a little askew you can probably peak through the windows and potentially catch a glimpse at someone fancy. Very official looking guards do roam the area but if you really wanted I reckon an ambush wouldn’t be that difficult (although maybe I’m over-thinking things). There is a changing of the guards ceremony you can watch but really it’s just a nice place to wander and attempt to creep on some Royals.

To keeps things weird and recommend something a little strange, I bring you the Cisterns. It is a former water reservoir underground that now houses exhibitions and art shows. They are located in a park and you can spot them by their triangular, glass exterior. For a small fee you can go down underground and wander the tunnels. I wouldn’t say it’s a full day activity haha, more ten/twenty minutes. It is cold, wet and damp down there and feels similar to the Paris catacombs/any usual cave. When we were there we saw these projections of birds and flowers on the walls.

Just a few minutes walk from the park is the Carlsberg factory – when it’s sunny out you have to get a drink! Carlsberg is actually a Danish beer (I didn’t know) and their factory/tour/exbeerience are located in the city. For the price you get to wander the tour and see photos, a large collection of beer bottles, ride on a horse carriage and drink beer (wahey). Yes it can be mind-stimulating and I’m sure you can learn some cool stuff if you focus and soak it all in but honestly drinking in their sunny beer garden was good enough for me!

Then of course you just have to walk and wander round the city. The main places I would hit up are the Round Tower, Rosenborg Castle and Strøget. The latter is one of the longest pedestrian streets in Europe full of cafes, shops and general tourist knick-knacks and souvenirs. Rosenborg is a really beautiful castle in the middle of this lovely park. It’s a great spot to have a picnic or sit and read when your feet start to get tired. Also just walking amongst the various waterways is really nice or jumping in a peddle swan boat and soaking up the sun (assuming it’s summer time). The Round Tower is an usual once as there are no stairs to the top but a very continuous/dizzy ramp. The view from the top isn’t anything to write home about but the building itself still has a lot of older features and quirks to it.

I recommended Danish pastries last time and now it’s all about smørrebrød aka open sandwiches. Bread (normally rye) with some kind of fish or meat on top and then something pickled or vegetably (sp?). I think herring and cheese are the most common toppings but I went for pork with pickled cabbage and cucumbers. As to why this is a thing I’m not sure but anything that involves bread gets a thumbs up in my books. In terms of where to eat this, just use Yelp or go on a browse. There are really high-end, expensive places and then cheaper, just as good options – bread is bread really.

And to very quickly and briefly end this post – go to Tivoli! It’s an amusement park and concert hall hybrid in the centre of the city (and I mean the dead centre of the city). The best ride is the old, wooden rollercoaster (I think called The Rollercoaster haha). It feels a little janky and that it could break at any second but definitely worth the thrill. A few hours there is enough and perfect for some adrenaline time!

And that concludes Copenhagen. It is honestly one of the nicest places I have ever visited and I would not hesitate for a second going back. Maybe I’d risk the winter as I’m sure it gets pretty Scandinavian/magical which I’m sure is beautiful.